Shannon Airport is doomed if it remains in public ownership and is not sold immediately to the highest bidder, Ryanair chief Michael O’Leary predicts.

He has written to Transport Minister Leo Varadkar, urging him to sell Shannon and Cork airports to the highest bidder. Mr Varadkar is currently evaluating future ownership options for the two airports and stated last week that Shannon will be retained within public ownership "as it is a strategic national asset".

However, in a letter to Mr Varadkar, Mr O’Leary wrote: "As a Government-owned monopoly, we do not believe that the Dublin Airport Authority is capable of reform and we strongly recommend that it be broken up with the sale — to the highest bidder — of Shannon and Cork airports and at least one of the two terminals at Dublin in order to allow competition to deliver lower prices, improved service and traffic/jobs growth, where the DAA monopoly has clearly failed."